Colonialism, Imperialism,
Hegemony
1. United States foreign policy between 1815 and 1910
was determined less by economic than strategic, moral,
or political interests. Assess the validity of this
generalization with reference to at least TWO major
episodes ( for example: treaties, wars, proclamations,
annexations, etc.) in the foreign policy of the United
States between 1815 and 1910. (80)
 2. How and why did the Monroe Doctrine become the
cornerstone of United States foreign policy by the late
nineteenth century? (85)
 3. Both the Mexican War and the Spanish American War
were premeditated resulting from deliberately calculated
schemes of robbery on the part of a superior power
against weak and defenseless neighbors. (86)
 4. Compare the debates that took place over American
expansionism in the 1840’s with those that took place in
the 1890’s, analyzing the similarities and differences in
the debates of the two eras. (92)

Definitions

Colonialism:
– People

Imperialism:
– Direct power

Hegemony:
– Indirect power
Colonialism



American West
Hawai’i + Alaska
Rationales: Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism,
Frederick Jackson Turner “frontier thesis,”
population pressure, economic pressure
– Doc B, Doc C
Policies: land grants (Homestead and RxR),
Indian Wars
 Outcome: extermination of natives or
“assimilation;” rugged frontier individuals
dependent on federal gov’t

– A la Third Reich and Imperial Japan, racism +
expansion living space = killing space
Imperialism
Cuba
Philippines
Panama
Rationales: Social Darwinism, White Man’s
Burden, markets (neo-mercantilism)
 Policies: Roosevelt Corollary




– Doc F

Outcome: occupation, military build-up,
subjugation of natives
– Philippines: occupation + insurgency concentration
camps, free-fire zones, war crimes
– Doc D, Doc H
Hegemony
Latin America / Caribbean
 China
 Africa and Middle East (post-WWII)
 Rationales: economic, “stability,” security

– Doc C
Policies: McKinley: Open Door Policy, Taft: Dollar
Diplomacy, Wilson: Moral Diplomacy, FDR: Good
Neighbor Policy
 Outcome: “banana republics,” dictatorships

Imperialism to create democracy?
Niall Ferguson, Colossus: nations that
have been thoroughly “imperialized”
(India, Singapore, Hawai’i, Philippines) do
better (economically, politically) than
those that have not (Africa, Middle East)
 Economic study Pacific islands: European
colonization (esp. US) correlated w/higher
standard of living

– With the notable exception of the slavery, rape,
pillaging, mass murder, starvation, segregation,
destruction of culture, continuing economic
exploitation, and environmental degradation

Iraq?
Colonial America: How the
West was Lost
Although the economic development of the
Tans-Mississippi West is popularly
associated with hardy individualism, it was
in fact largely dependent on the federal
government. Assess the validity of this
statement with specific reference to
Western economic activities in the
nineteenth century. (91)
How were the lives of the Plains Indians in
the second half of the nineteenth century
affected by technological developments
and government actions? (99)
I. Visions of the West
A. Turner’s Frontier
"The Significance of the Frontier in American
History," 1893:
"The existence of an area of free land, its
continuous recession, and the advance of
American settlement westward explain American
development."
Frontier "that coarseness and strength
combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness;
that practical inventive turn of mind, quick to find
expedients; that masterful grasp of material
things... that restless, nervous energy; that
dominant individualism" = Americanism
Rugged Individualism
Farm life on Plains is very difficult: hard
work, essentials (water, fuel) are scarce
Weather is unpredictable (heat, storms,
blizzards, floods, prairie fires), plus insects
98 Meridian
Democracy for women (compare early
South Carolina + slaves)
Homestead Act (1862) disperses
settlement and creates social isolation
Also lonely because many were bachelors;
many abandon farms for cities (late 1800s)
Isolation diminished by mail-order
companies and extension of RFD post
service
B. Cowboys and Indians
William “Buffalo Bill” Cody
“Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” (1883)
– Buffalo hunt w/ real buffalos, Indian
attack on the Deadwood stage with real
Indians, Pony Express ride, and
presentation of Custer’s Last Stand
w/Lakota who had actually fought
– Toured Europe, great acclaim
½ circus, ½ history lesson
Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull
1,700 dime novels
 violent, gunfighting, gambling,
get-rich-quick, lawless hedonism=
“Wild West”
II. Realities of the West
A. Rugged Cooperation
Massive gov’t assistance throughout (and today)
Pacific Railway Acts (1862, 1864): US 180 million
acres to rail companies; States 50 million acres
Morrill Land Grant Act (1862): “land grant”
colleges
Homestead Act (1862): 160 acres, small fee if:
1) 21 / head household, 2) citizen or imm.
seeking, 3) build house, 4) farm 5 years
372,000 farms, 80 million acres
– 50 years post-CW more land than since Jamestown
– Cheap land immigrants + blacks (50,000 Exodusters)
Expansion tension w/ Indians violence
cavalry removal + massacre [Sand Creek (500),
Wounded Knee (200)] “Indian Emancipation Act”
– “Disappearing Indian”
– Indian “monopoly” on land stymie competition breakup
Dawes Act (General Allotment Act), 1887
1) 160 acres of land to head of each family; single
over 18: 80 acres; under 18: 40 acres
2) same legal protection as whites’
3) Federal government, for 25 years, would hold land
in trust: Indians could not sell land for 25 years
4) Full citizenship rights
5) Fed sell all remaining land not allotted
Unsuitable for farming;
choose land for culture
> economics; refuse
farm; not enough
land debt to whites
(sharecropping / debt
peonage) lose 2/3
land
(1906: Clapp amendment:
“competent” to sell)
 1934 Indian
Reorganization Act
Destruction of the
Buffalo
1) Weather
2) Indians
3) Competition
horses/cattle
4) Bill Cody
Mechanization agriculture + need for
irrigation (environment) + boom/bust
cycle concentration in large, commercial
farms
– Also true (diff. particulars) for ranching +
mining
B. Mild West
1) Not as violent: more died violently in RxR
accidents than gun
2) Violence often socio-economic conflict:
competition for land, resources, power
3) Violence usually not personal conflicts but
rather conflict between social groups (e.g. pan
miners vs. capitalists’ goons—see Pale Rider)
– 1889, “Johnson County War”: 50 gunmen Wyoming
Stock Growers Association vs. small ranchers +
farmers (posse of 200): Feds save gunmen from
siege
Cleaned up quickly as big biz moves in
The Ranching Frontier
Population growth + RxR (bulk
transportation) cattle ranching
mushrooms after 1860s
Penny press claims 25-40% profit
Drive cattle 1,000+ miles from TX to
rail link, but soon move to raising herds
near rail link (long drives inefficient)
– Mexican + black cowboys
Profitable open-range ranching w/
massive use gov’t lands; dominated
large ranchers w/ backing (London,
NYC)
Grazing Wars
Massive cattle ranching conflicts commercial
farms + sheep herds (“wooly critters”)
West lacks materials for traditional fences:
who owns what? Mass production barbed
wire solves conflict
Wire accelerates farming (protect); ranching
moves toward big business, away from
open-range (large-scale isolate)
Winter 1887-88 Small ranchers out, most
cowboys wage-earners